Palu, C Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - No pregnant students are allowed to sit for national examination even though they have been registered, a local education official said.

"That`s the rule we must abide by altogether," Rustam Akkas, the head of the secondary education section at the Palu city education and teaching office, said here on Tuesday.

Rustam said the pregnant students should not have been registered for the exams.

It is most likely when they were registered they had been pregnant but their pregnancy was still unknown, he said.

If they were known to have been pregnant they would certainly be expelled from their schools, he said.

"Despite being pregnant they do not often confess in the hope they can sit for the exams," he said.

He also said students who are sentenced for their involvement in various cases such as drug abuse, theft and other criminal offenses are not allowed to sit for the exams.

"But they still have a chance to take package C exams in the same way as the pregnant students," he said.

Meanwhile, the students who cannot sit for the exam for being sick can take exams to be held a week after the national exams, he said.

But they must show a written statement issued by the doctor or hospital, he said.

A total of 6,167 senior high school students in Palu will sit for the national exams on April 15-18.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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